Urban Sketching in Paris

On our Monday night in Paris, Lisa had arranged for us to meet up with the Paris chapter of the Urban Sketchers group.  If you didn't know, Lisa's amazing artwork was included in Danny Gregory's recently published book entitled An Illustrated Journey.  I believe one of the sketchers group members had read on Lisa's blog that she was coming to Paris and suggested a meetup.

We met at the St. Paul metro station, after the 3 of us had a quick peek into the beautiful church by the same name located just down the street, a favourite of mine from previous visits:

As soon as introductions were made, sketchbooks came out and we oohed and awed over the drawings in them.

Meeting up

Lisa taking a picture of Marie Christine and her journal,
at it is being admired by Javier

We then made our way to a courtyard a few blocks away and settled in in various locations around the square to sketch.

Lisa and June

It was immediately apparent that these people were all seriously talented. Lorraine and I felt a little out of our depth but gamely jumped in with pen and paper in hand. I focused on the ironwork of a window above the bench where I was sitting.

This young man from Korea wasn't part of the Paris group but when he saw what we were doing, asked if he could join us.

Soong and Lisa

As dusk arrived, we moved to one of the restaurants and sat down for a meal together.  More sketching ensued while we waited for our meals to be served.

Joy and Javier

Virgina

I had never been a model for an artist before.  First Joy drew me ("sit still!", she kept saying!)

then it was Marie Christine's turn.

Javier drew this one.

June's sketch included several of us, I love it!

The American and Canadian Girls in Paris!
(drawn by June)

I really enjoyed meeting these people and having a chance to spend some time with them, it was such a fun evening.  I hope our paths will cross again some day!

Lisa, Kim and I

(Just to prove that I'm not making this up, you can also read about our evening here on the official Paris Urban Sketchers website, as written by Marie Christine!)